AN: Apparently the library computers are wiped of memory at ten every night… therefore I must edit this again. D'x
Anyway, this is the last chapter that is old. The end of it is actually quite recent, but it's still not going to be the best. Lemme know what's wrong and what's right… n.n"
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it.
oOoOoOoOo
"I'm bored, Sirius," complained Regulus, lying on the sofa, twirling a dark ribbon in his hands. "Why aren't you doing anything?" He glared at his brother who lay dormant on the parallel sofa, seemingly asleep, but his breathing patterns gave him away.
"Sleep, Regulus."
"...Why? That's boring. It's broad daylight! Let's go outside."
"Reg, you know we're cooped up here all day every day. Outside is Muggle society, and Mother and Father don't want us talking to them. We can't play Quidditch, if that's what you're thinking. We can only play Quidditch at the Malfoy Manor with Lucius Malfoy." Sirius snorted. "I swear, when Narcissa ends up in an arranged marriage with him, I'm going to use an Unforgivable Curse on him." He faked gagging, and Regulus laughed.
"Why don't we break the rules? We could get along with Muggles."
Sirius opened a grey eye. "...Regulus, we can't talk to them! They... they... they're..."
"Filth?" Regulus guessed, a slight grimace on his face.
"Yes."
"That's just what Mum and Dad say. But listen, Sirius, remember in Diagon Alley? They aren't so differ-"
"Regulus!" Sirius snarled. "I remember the incident in Diagon Alley. You don't think they were right to do that, huh?"
"No, of course not!" Regulus gasped. "Why would they..." he trailed off, sitting up and looking at his brother angrily.
Sirius' scowl broke out into a grin as he beamed down at his kid brother. "I've taught you well, brother. Let's go outside, then, we could find a Muggle kid to tease and- I mean, to talk to."
Jumping right to it, Regulus ran to the front door, having to go through two rooms to get there. Sirius wearily rolled off the couch and inched his way to the other Black child.
"Come on, Sirius!"
"Be patient, you toe rag!" Sirius called. "I swear, if I have to listen to you complain for the rest of my life-"
"I'll go grey by the time you get here!" Regulus interrupted rudely, whining.
Sirius rolled his eyes, moving even slower to annoy Regulus.
"The longer it takes you the sooner Mum and Dad will arrive!"
"Regulus, a few seconds won't change anything. Be patient or we can't go outside. Got it?"
Crossing his arms and leaning on the door boredly, Regulus stared at the door where Sirius would be coming from.
Regulus had stopped complaining, and Sirius didn't really feel like walking .01 miles per hour, so he sped up much to his brother's relief.
"Finally!" Regulus said impatiently. He jumped away from the door and shot his hand at the knob. "Took you long enough." With a tiny pale hand, Regulus turned the knob and ran outside. They were concealed by magic on the front steps, but suddenly appeared the second their feet touched the old cobbled street.
"Look!" Regulus shouted, pointing at some Muggle children playing with a ball on the street. "What're they doing?"
Sirius squinted, scratching his head. "They're doing some Muggle game. Tossing around a ball or something. Looks horridly boring, right?"
"No way!" Regulus almost tripped over in his haste to catch up with the Muggles. There were four boys and two girls, all of them throwing the ball from one to the other. Their ages ranged from around eight to twelve.
"Hi!" Regulus piped up, waving to them all with a big grin plastered on his face. "I'm Regulus, what's your names? This is my brother!" he added when Sirius walked up behind him less enthusiastically. "He's eleven, and I'm ei-"
"Regulus, shut up." Sirius rolled his grey eyes and looked back at the Muggles. "Hey, mates, I'm Sirius, you?" His eyes rested on the older girl, who was probably the same age as him, and he flipped his hair back casually, but elegantly.
"Jack," said the smallest boy who had lots of freckles and dark brown hair, "and that's Alfie and Lew. Emily's my sister, and Jessica and Harvey are twins. I'm seven."
"I'm Alf," a tall one with blond hair said, the one holding the ball now. "I'm leader of our gang." He gave Jack a little glare, but smiled at Regulus and Sirius again.
The rest introduced themselves; Lew had dark blond hair, and was plump, but kind-looking. Sirius wasn't sure he liked him, despite the warm look on his face and despite the fact that they hadn't even spoken to each other. Emily looked a lot like Jack; dark hair and freckles dotting her cheeks. Jessica and Harvey looked like exact copies of each other, but Jessica had longer hair and a rounder face. She was the girl Sirius had given the hair flip to. They both had straight, coal black hair, making them look foreign, but their bright blue eyes contrasted immensely.
"Sirius, was it?" Emily asked, pushing a brown lock out of her face.
"Yeah," he said, eyes flickering over to her from Jessica. "Sirius Black."
She would vaguely remember the name in twenty-three years when it would appear in newspapers and wanted posters.
The introductions took another long few minutes; Regulus kept getting their names wrong. But eventually, the brothers were invited to play. Sirius looked skeptical, and asked what in the name of god (he almost said Merlin's bollocks) were they playing anyway.
"Catch," Alfie replied coolly. "You know. Throwing. Catching. It's all very simple."
"Looks dreadfully boring..." Sirius muttered, not taking too much of a liking to the blond boy.
"It's not boring," Jack piped. "It's practice for soccer!"
Dammit, what's soccer? Some Muggle sport? Should we know about it? Is it popular?
"What's soccer?" Regulus asked before Sirius could say anything. He mentally smacked the younger boy.
"What's soccer!" Alfie scoffed. "He asked what's soccer!"
"It's just a game," said Emily. "Not too horrible, but I prefer football, myself."
"Heads up!" Alfie said, tossing the ball to Emily. "Come on, let's play!"
Emily grinned, and everyone soon forgot of Sirius' and Regulus' ignorance of the game. With two more people, it was more challenging. Everyone's eyes were on the ball as it shot from Emily to Jack to Alfie to Jack to Alfie to Jessica to Emily to Harvey to Lewis to Sirius to Jessica.
Regulus was on his toes as he waited eagerly for it to come to him. Sirius noticed this out of the corner of his eye and rolled them. He would have thrown it to the boy, but they were standing right next to each other.
"Switch!" Alfie suddenly cried, and everyone scrambled into a new position in the circle.
Finally, Regulus had the ball, and he grinned as he threw it, predictably, to Sirius. "All right!" he cheered, giddy with joy.
Three minutes later, another switch took place. Sirius went out of his way to stand next to Jessica. His small hints went unnoticed in the fun of the game.
Much later, Sirius decided that it had been long enough. Something told him that his parents would kill them if they knew where they were.
"Oh, god!" Sirius cried suddenly, looking over at Regulus with horror in his eyes. "Kreacher!"
"Creature?" Emily asked, bringing the throwing to a stop. "What do you-?"
"I told you, Mother and Father took him."
Sirius let out a breath of relief. Good, good. Panicking was over. "We should still go home, though," Sirius said. "They're gonna kill us-"
"Okay," Regulus agreed fearfully, only now thinking about what would happen. The brothers disregarded the Muggle children. It wasn't as if they would ever meet again.
"What are you guys talking about?"
"We have to go home, mates," Sirius suddenly apologized. "Sorry."
"Come back tomorrow, then," Jessica invited them warmly. "It's a lot more fun with extra people."
"We ca-"
"Sure!" Sirius interrupted urgently. "Yeah, we'll definitely come back as soon as possible! Come on, Reg. Let's go home, alright?"
Regulus frowned, not understanding his brother's motivation for accepting. "Okay," he agreed hesitantly.
They walked down the old street together, but Sirius stopped him from walking any farther. "This way," he hissed, pointing to the left. "Just walked down the corner, wait, then we can go home. Kay?"
Regulus nodded, and took his older brother's hand. Sirius frowned in thought, leading them down the cobbled street.
When he felt it was safe, he turned them both around and they were headed home again. Sirius looked back at the children and nodded, giving Regulus a gentle shove onto the first front step.
"Merlin, that was close," Sirius breathed out, collapsing on the sofa. He let his feet rest on the cushion, something he could only do when there were no adults or House Elves around.
"Mum said not to do that, Sirius," Regulus warned. "She'll be very angry with you."
Sirius shrugged. "Whatever."
oOoOoOoOo
In the next six months, Sirius had gone through major changes with his cousins and himself. Bellatrix would pull him aside more often, showing him that she had a Dark Mark. It scared him; only eleven, and his much older cousin was coaxing him to join Lord Voldemort when he was in fifth or sixth year.
"I'm not old enough," Sirius argued one day in early July.
"But you are able to start thinking about it, Sirius. I'm going to be talking to Regulus about this before he starts Hogwarts, too."
Her grin was sickening, and it took all Sirius had not to look away. However attractive she was, she looked evil. Pure evil. It scared the shit out of Sirius. He was glad he wouldn't be going to Hogwarts with her.
The next day—July ninth- was a day that Sirius had been looking forward to very much. His letter from Hogwarts arrived by owl in the evening.
"Mum! Dad! Look! I got my letter!"
Walburga read it after him, then Orion. They both beamed at him.
"I am sure you will be the best wizard at Hogwarts," his mother told him. Sirius looked a little shocked.
"You think I'll be the best?" he said excitedly.
"Of course- better than all of the others in your year."
"I would expect no less from my own son. You'll be exceptionally better than all of the Mudbloods," Orion said. "It will be difficult to keep up with the others. You must spend all of your free time studying and looking into the Dark Arts."
Sirius' excitement faltered. "You want me to study the Dark Arts already?" he asked disappointedly. He hadn't thought that his parents would force him to do so.
"Of course," Walburga started as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The more you know the better. Now, Sirius, when would you like to go shopping for school supplies? Mummy is busy today and tomorrow, but I would love to take you soon."
Sirius shrugged. He wanted his wand more than anything in the world, but the expectation to fall into the Dark Arts disturbed him. Were all Slytherins doomed to follow Lord Voldemort?
"Any time you're able to, Mother," he answered.
"I can take the boy," Orion said. "Now, where's Regulus? That boy is such trouble…"
Sirius shrugged again. "In his room, probably," he muttered.
The next day, Sirius and Regulus' father took them to Diagon Alley for some shopping. When they got to Ollivander's, Regulus gave his brother a look of such deep emotion that it was difficult to see if he was jealous or in awe.
There were all sorts of odd measurements with an enchanted tape measurer—he jumped a little when it went between his nostrils, but soon it was around his head then at his fingertips. Soon enough Mr. Ollivander presented him with a box.
Willow, nine inches, phoenix feather.
"No," said Ollivander, then gave him another ("Birch, ten inches, unicorn hair"), then another ("Cherry, nine and a half inches, dragon heartstring").
"Try this," the old man suggested as he handed the fourth one over. "Birch, eleven and three-fourths inches, dragon heartstring."
Sirius waved it, looking at him sheepishly. Ollivander nodded.
"Yes, m'boy. Very good."
Seven Galleons later, Sirius had a wand. And that was that.
He was staring at it and waving it around as they walked down the road until Orion told him to put it away before someone lost an eye.
Sirius begged for a new broom—his parents were rich, why couldn't he get one?—but Orion said no, and that he would have to wait until next year after Slytherin won the House Cup.
Great, thought Sirius, now I'm going to have to win the House Cup. Stupid parents. Stupid Slytherin. Stupid House Cup. Stupid broom.
He reluctantly moved on and found the rest of the trip rather enjoyable—his first textbooks, his first set of robes (what a peculiar trip!) and a new friend.
Peter Pettigrew, the boy said his name was. He was short... very short... and only ten years old. Sirius puffed up his chest when he discovered that he was older- not that it was much, being older than this tiny little boy.
"So, Peter," Sirius drawled after they had chatted for a while. His father and brother were off getting ice cream, but Sirius had decided to stay with Peter. "What House do you think you'll be in?"
"M-me?" Peter asked, letting out a short laugh. "Gee, I haven't thought about it much. I-I think maybe Hufflepuff-"
"Hufflepuff!" Sirius snorted. "Hell, I'd leave if I were put in Hufflepuff. I'm going to be in Slytherin."
The blond boy gasped. "B-b-but the- I mean, Y-Y-You-Know-Who was in Slytherin!" Peter squeaked, looking rather frightened.
Sirius shrugged. "They can't be all bad folk. I kind of think they'd be rather nice, don't you? I mean, to their own Housemates."
Peter shook his head vigorously. "No, no- I have a cousin who's in Slytherin. He's as mean as can be! I don't like him very much at all."
He looked rather confused at this. "Not all Slytherins are bad," he said, thinking of Andromeda. "My own cousins are all in Slytherin. Everyone in my family has been in Slytherin. I only see it fit to be in it too... I don't want to be disowned by my Mum and Dad!"
Sirius didn't particularly like his parents, but didn't hate them either. He did hate Bellatrix, but he had a right to. Narcissa was okay, he supposed. Andromeda was his favorite. But they were all in Slytherin.
"They would disown you!" Peter said incredulously. "Impossible!"
"Of course not! Anyone can be disowned if they do something that doesn't please their family... right?"
Peter shook his head again, looking at Sirius like he was batshit insane. "No way! Your family is... well, they're your family! You should be in whatever House you want."
Sirius frowned skeptically. He didn't fancy the Slytherin colors much anymore...
"Well..." he said slowly, trying to win the argument, "your family is weird then! What if there was a Squib in your family? What use would a Squib be?"
Peter's mouth fell open. "Okay, so what? A Squib is a Squib... I mean... you're not supposed to use your own family... I love my family. I wouldn't care if we were all Muggles."
Sirius scrunched up his nose with disdain. "Why would you wanna be a Muggle? They play the most boring games... wouldn't you rather play Quidditch than catch?"
"Doesn't matter," Peter muttered, looking down at his shoes.
"Sirius," Regulus called, running over with a bowl of ice cream. "Look, look! You should have come to get some with us! Isn't it wicked? Check it out!" He held up the bowl and grinned.
"My brother," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Regulus. Regulus, this is Peter."
Regulus licked ice cream off his chin, leaving it still on the other parts of his face. "Hullo, Peter!" he said cheerily. "Are you going to Hogwarts too?"
Peter nodded, looking a little pleased that he was taller than this young boy. "Why, yes, I am," he said importantly. "I'm going to be a first year."
"Wow," Regulus sighed, "Lucky lucky. I wish I could go too."
"Don't worry, Reg," Sirius said impatiently. "You'll go soon enough. We'll both be in Slytherin and we'll be the reason that we win the House Cup."
"Yeah!" Regulus cheered, running back over to their father, who was in turn just walking to the children.
"Why do you want to be in Slytherin so bad?" asked Peter, turning to Sirius.
"Because," Sirius explained exasperatedly. "For the hundredth time, if I'm not in Slytherin then I'm screwed for life."
"Why?"
"Because!" Sirius said irritably. "Just because! Oka-"
He was interrupted by his father at this point. It was time to go home.
AN: I'm going to be very mean to Hufflepuffs in this, sorry. xD It's not me, though—it's Sirius. So if you're a Hufflepuff, well, sorry. Maybe when he starts dating he'll see a really sexy Hufflepuff. o.o Yeah, so. Hope you like it. :) Please review and favorite!